Re: [Libreoffice] [UX] [PATCH] EasyHacks 3.27 Change Sheet copy process

Hi Kohei, hi Joost, hi dev list members!

It seems that I still miss a good way to sort and highlight IMAP
messages - I did not pay too much attention to this thread and totally
missed the CC "Christoph". Grrr & sorry at the same time ...

Thus, I don't know whether this is helpful at the moment (as far as I
understand, the patch has been already committed), but here are my short
thoughts ...

Bur first, a basic question: Did the change address a small (but
important) issue, or is the change part of some broader attempt? I ask,
because the dialog is rather old and contains some other issues (like
the old vertical OK/Cancel/Help design).

Am Freitag, den 10.12.2010, 20:31 -0500 schrieb Kohei Yoshida:
[...]
> About UI

I'll refer to your (Kohei's) pictures linked in another mail ...

> And these are the screenshots of the new dialog.
>
> Rename unchecked
> http://people.freedesktop.org/~kohei/sheet-rename-unchecked.png
>
> Rename checked
> http://people.freedesktop.org/~kohei/sheet-rename-checked.png

Two main (and somehow rhetorical) questions / remarks:
      * If the user copies a sheet (several sheets) within the same
        file, then the new sheets will be renamed anyway. Right?
        Although the user did not check the "Rename" checkbox ... --> As
        far as I understand, we require unique sheet names. The checkbox
        refers to a user intended name change.
      * If the user copies a sheet, how will he get aware of the name of
        the new sheet? --> Currently, people have to finish the
        operation and then look for the new name.

> * Let's remove the 'New Name' string as I feel this is redundant.  And 
>   let' place the rename box either to the immediate right of 'Rename' 
>   check box, or immediately below it.  I prefer it being to the right 
>   of the check box since we have a plenty of space there.

Does that mean the aligned to the caption "Rename"? Would be great.

> * Instead of hiding the rename box, it's better to disable it when the 
>   Rename check box is not checked.  We generally don't show or hide 
>   controls but enable or disable it.
>
> * Let's disable the Rename check box as well as the rename input box 
>   when multiple sheets are selected.  We don't know what we should do 
>   for multiple sheet copy/move & rename yet, so I would be more 
>   comfortable disabling it in such cases (at least for now).  

Yep.

> * I think it would be more user-friendly if the Rename input box 
>   showed the default sheet name.  When moving a sheet, this would be 
>   the original sheet name, while when copying a sheet it would be the 
>   original name followed by '_' + <num> (e.g.  Sheet1 -> Sheet1_1).  

Absolutely.

> [...] 
>
> All in all, I'm happy with what I see there, so, good work! :-)

A small additional question (I may have missed that): What happens, if
the user choses a name that is already used in the document? The current
(less helpful) reaction within the renaming sheet dialog is another
dialog window "Invalid sheet name." (Ask any user if he knows what this
might mean ... *g*).


> Let me know if you need any help with any of the above items.
>
> I'll CC Christoph in case he has some comments on this feature as well
> as on my comments above.  Christoph, please feel free to add your
> comments as well if you have any. :-)

Concerning my questions above, I do have a proposal - it is meant to be
a small iterative step, so please look at it critically ;-)

Some assumptions:
      * limit the number of changes
      * keep the idea of a common move / copy dialog (I still don't know
        why this had been introduced ... but at least, it saves another
        menu item)

+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                  Move / Copy Sheet: $sheetname                      |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Action ----------------------------------------------------------  +
|    (o) Move                                                         |
|    ( ) Copy                                                         |
|                                                                     |
|  Location and Name -----------------------------------------------  |
|    To Document                                                      |
|    [ $documentname (Current Document)                         |\/]  |
|                                                                     |
|    Insert Before                                                    |
|    +-------------------------------------------------------------+  |
|    | Sheet 1                                                     |  |
|    | Sheet 2                                                     |  |
|    | Sheet 3                                                     |  |
|    | (move to end position)                                      |  |
|    +-------------------------------------------------------------+  |
|                                                                     |
|    Name                                                             |
|    [ $sheetname 2                                                ]  |
|                                                                     |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [ Help ]                                       [  OK  ]  [ Cancel ] |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+

More or less major changes:
      * Although a bit "visually noisy", I've did the design on the
        basis of the current (draft) dialog guidelines [1] (better than
        nothing)
      * Added "old" sheet name to the window title (similar to the style
        handling) --> helps the user to double-check the sheet (s)he is
        going to copy/move (good if he e.g. got interrupted)
      * Added the "(Current Document)" to the document name --> helps
        some people to identify that everything is okay
      * Removed the "rename" checkbox and keep the text field -->
        Provides direct access for the user to adapt the name (and if
        not, it lets the user check the name in advance if only one
        sheet is moved/copied).

Concerning the latter, the main issue is how to handle the automatic
proposals versus any user desired name change. Proposal:
      * If the user did not change the name manually, then automatically
        propose new names.
      * If the user once changed the name in the dialog (touched the
        text field), then keep the name (even if it conflicts with the
        sheet names within the target file)
      * More info on demand ;-)

Another thing would be helpful ... a more instant feedback on name
conflicts: showing a comment below the name text field, deactivating the
"OK" button. The "/!\" symbolizes a small warning sign.

.                                                                     .
|    Name                                                             |
|    [ $sheetname 2                                                ]  |
|    /!\ The sheet name is already used. Chose a unique name.         |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [ Help ]                                       [  OK  ]  [ Cancel ] |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+

I'm still a bit unsure whether we want to keep "Name" active, if the
sheet is just moved. Although it doesn't make real sense (from the
feature point-of-view), there is no good visual clue for the user why it
is deactivated (first).

Future Ideas:
      * Separate the move / copy actions ... this would solve some
        issues at once.
      * Think about the "Insert Before" thing ... it is not that obvious
        what this means. Is there any way to make this more
        understandable? 
      * Does any data / experience prove that the default (new) position
        of the sheet should be directly after the source sheet?

Did that help ... even if I just throw in some late ideas? ;-)

Cheers,
Christoph

[1] http://specs.openoffice.org/ui_in_general/dialogs/Dialogs.odt